Double canister assembly for storing samples in a vacuum insulated storage container

ABSTRACT

A vacuum insulated storage container including a canister assembly suitable for storing semen containing ampules therein is disclosed. The canister assembly comprises a rigid elongated handle having a low thermal conductive section that separates upper and lower portions. The upper portion is designed to fit over the neck of a vacuum insulated storage container. The lower section supports two canisters in vertical alignment. The upper canister is removably attached to the handle and the lower canister is fixedly attached thereto. Each of the canisters includes a valve mechanism located at its bottom. The valve mechanisms allow a liquid refrigerant to flow into the canisters but prevents the refrigerant from flowing out of the canisters.

United States Patent Hawker 1 3,707,079 [451 Dec. 26, 1972 [54] DOUBLECANISTER ASSEMBLY FOR STORING SAMPLES IN A VACUUM INSULATED STORAGECONTAINER [72] Inventor:

[73] Assignee: Cryogenic Engineering Company,

Denver, Colo.

[22] Filed: March 2, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 120,181

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,662,520 12/1953 McMahon.62/64 2,706,895 4/1955 Thompson 62/373 3,166,425 1/1965 Morrison..62/64 Herbert W. Hawker, Golden, Colo.

3,368,361 2/1968 Rietdijk ..62/373 Primary Examiner-William J. WyeAttorney-Griffin, Branigan 8: Kindness [5 7] ABSTRACT A vacuum insulatedstorage container including a canister assembly suitable for storingsemen containing ampules therein is disclosed. The canister assemblycomprises a rigid elongated handle having a low thermal conductivesection that separates upper and lower portions. The upper portion isdesigned to fit over the neck of a vacuum insulated storage container.The lower section supports two canisters in vertical alignment. Theupper canister is removably at-. tached to the handle and the lowercanister is fixedly attached thereto. Each of the canisters includes avalve mechanism located at its bottom. The valve mechanisms allow aliquid refrigerant to flow into the canisters but prevents therefrigerant from flowing out of the canisters.

7 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures DOUBLE CANISTER ASSEMBLY FOR STORING SAMPLESIN A VACUUM INSULATED STORAGE CONTAINER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Inrecent years it has been common to breed cattle by artificiallyinseminating a cow with the semen of an outstanding bull. Artificialinsemination is used to eliminate the necessity of transporting eitherthe bull or the cow in order to breed them. One of the problemsattendant to artificial insemination is the necessity of keeping thesemen cold during transportation. That is, if the semen is not kept atan extremely low temperature during transportation, it will perish.Hence, semen is usually transported in a vacuum insulated storagecontainer (Dewar) that houses a low temperature refrigerant. Normally,such a container houses one or more canister assemblies which contain aplurality of semen ampules.

Various types of canister assemblies have been proposed and are in use.One of the most common canister assemblies comprises an elongated rigidhandle which hangs over the top or access passage of the Dewar. Thecanister has a screened bottom to allow liquid refrigerant to enter intoit when the canister is submerged in the refrigerant contained in theDewar while preventing semen ampules from falling out of it. Thus, thesemen ampules contained in the canister are cooled by direct contactwith the refrigerant. When it is desired to remove a semen ampule fromsuch a canister, the canister is lifted out of the container through theaccess opening. As this action occurs, the refrigerant flows out of thecanisters screened bottom. Thus, in order to remove a single semensample from such a canister assembly, it isnecessary to take all of thesemen samples in the canister out of contact with the refrigerant.Herein lies the major disadvantage of such canister assemblies. That is,certain types of semen ampules warm up and thaw quickly. Hence, even ashort out-of-refrigerant contact time canbe harmful to semen containedin such ampules.

More specifically, French Straw" ampules in which semen samples areoften stored are small tubes approximately one-sixteenth of an inch indiameter and 5 to 6 inches long. Because of their small diameters, theseampules tend to warm up and thaw out extremely rapidly when taken out ofcontact with a suitable refrigerant. Many prior art canister assemblieshave the additional disadvantage of being unduly deep whereby removal ofsemen ampules, particularly French Straw type semen ampules, isdifficult and time consuming. It will be appreciated that this seconddisadvantage aggravates the first.

Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a vacuuminsulated storage container that includes a new and improved canisterassembly.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a new and improvedcanister assembly suitable for supporting semen samples in a vacuuminsulated storage container which maintains the semen samples in contactwith a refrigerant even when the canister assembly is removed from thevacuum insulated storage container.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a new andimproved canister assembly suitable for supporting French Straw typesemen ampules in a vacuum insulated storage container yet allowing theeasy removal of the ampules from the canister assembly.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide a new and improvedcanister suitable for use in a vacuum insulated storage container.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with principles of thisinvention, a vacuum insulated storage container that includes a new andimproved canister assembly is provided. The canister assembly comprisesa rigid elongated handle formed of upper and lower portions separated bya low thermal conductive section. The upper portion is designed to fitor hang over the neck of a vacuum insulated storage container so thatthe lower portion of the handle hangs down into the liquid refrigerantcontained in the vacuum insulated storage container. The lower portionof the handle supports one or more novel canisters in verticalalignment.

In accordance with otherprinciples of this invention each of the novelcanisters has a valve located in its bottom which allows refrigerant toflow into the canister but which prevent refrigerant from flowing out ofthe canister. Hence, when the canister assembly is removed from thevacuum insulated storage container, some of the refrigerant remains ineach of the canisters.

In accordance with further principles of this invention, each of thecanisters is of a depth such that semen ampules contained therein,particularly French Straw semen ampules, can be easily removedtherefrom. In addition, in accordance with yet other principles of thisinvention, all of the canisters mounted on the rigid elongated handle,except the lowermost canister, are readily removable from the handle.Thus, as an upper canister is emptied, it can be removed to provideaccess to lower canisters.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing brief summary of the inventionthat a vacuum insulated storage container including a novel canisterassembly is provided. Because each of the canisters forming a part ofthe canister assembly includes a novel one-way valve mechanism, therefrigerant after entering the canisters is maintained about ampulesstored therein, even during removal. Hence, the ampules are not allowedto warm up and thaw out when the canister assembly is removed from thestorage container. Moreover, because the canisters are relativelyshallow, when compared with prior art canisters, they allow easy accessto ampules contained therein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The foregoing and other objects,features and advantages of this invention will become more apparent fromthe following more particular description of a preferredembodiment ofthe invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings in whichreference characters refer to the same parts throughout the differentviews. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead beingplaced upon illustrating the principles of the invention in a clearmanner.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a vacuum insulated storage containerformed in accordance with the invention having a canister assemblymounted therein;

FIG. 2 is a partially cross-sectional view of a canister assembly formedin accordance with the invention and having French Straw ampules inplace;

FIG; 2A is a fragmentary cross-sectional view along line A-A of FIG. 2;

FIG. 2B is a fragmentary cross-sectional view along line B-B of FIG. 2;

FIG. 2C is a fragmentary cross-sectional view along line C-C of FIG. 2;

FIG. 2D is a fragmentary cross-sectional view along line D--D of FIG. 2;and, 1

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view along line 33 of FIG. 2 andillustrates an alternative embodiment of a portion of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIG. 1 illustrates a vacuuminsulated storage container 11 having mounted therein a canisterassembly '13. For purposes of clarity only one canister assembly 13 isillustrated in FIG. 2, however, it is to be understood that a pluralityof such assemblies will normally be mounted in the vacuum insulatedstorage container 11. The vacuum insulated storage container 11comprises an outer wall 15 and an inner wall 17 which define aninsulation space 19. Located at the top of the vacuum insulated storagecontainer 11 is an access aperture 21 through which the canisterassembly 13 is inserted into and extracted from the interior of thevacuum insulated storage container 11. The vacuum insulated storagecontainer 11 houses a fluid refrigerant 14, such as liquid nitrogen, inwhich the canister as-' sembly 13 is partially submerged in the mannerhereinafter described.

FIG. 2 illustrates a preferred embodiment of the canister assembly 13.The canister assembly 13 comprises a handle 25, a support plate 26, anuppercanister 27A and a lower canister 27B. The handle 25 comgenerallycylindrical in nature, passes through first and second tabs 37 thatcurve outwardly from the rear side of the support plate 26 adjacent thetop of the support plate. That is. the tabs 37 project outwardly andcurve a about the lower end of the lower portion 33 of the handle 25 toclamp that portion to the rear side of the support plate 26. Analternate method of attaching the lower portion 33 of the handle 25 tothe support plate 26 is to merely spot weld the two items together.

It should be noted that the support plate 26 is curved away (downwardlyas viewed in FIG. 2C) from the lowerportion 33 of the handle 25 about anaxis that is generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the handle25. The upper and lower canisters 27A and 27B are mounted in verticalalignment inside of this curvature in the manner hereinafter described.

Each of the canisters 27A and 278 comprises a cylindrical can 39 that isopen both at the top and at the bottom. A bottom 41 having a lip 43projecting downwardly about its periphery is located at the bottom ofeach canister. The lip 43 is attached to the inner side of the cans 39in a suitable manner, such as by welding, for example, to maintain thebottoms 41 in the cans. An aperture-45 is centrally located in eachbottom. Located above each aperture 45 is a somewhat clover-leaf shapedplate 47, best illustrated in FIG. 2D. The clover-leaf shaped plates 47fit over the apertures 45 but are separated therefrom by a raised ridge49 that surrounds each aperture 45.

The clover-leaf shaped plates 47 fit loosely within the side walls ofthe cans 39 and have four semi-circular indentations 51 which allowliquid refrigerant to flow up through the apertures 45, past the annularraised ridge 49 and the indentations 51, and into the cans 39. Thisaction occurs as the canisters are submerged in the refrigerant 14contained in the vacuum insulated storage container 11. The clover-leafshaped plates 47 are prevented from rising out of thecanisters 27A and273 during the initial submersion by the items held in the canisters,such as French Straw semen ampules, for example. a

The clover-leaf shaped plates 47 in combination with the apertures 45act as one-way valves because when the canister assembly 13 is liftedout of the refrigerant 14 after having once been submerged, the weightof the refrigerant contained in the canisters 27A and 27B prevents theplates 47 from raising and allowing the refrigerant to flow out of thecanisters. In this manner, refrigerant is allowed to enter each canisterbut is prevented from leaving. It will be appreciated that this one-wayvalve action allows the canister assembly to be removed from the vacuuminsulated storage container 11 without taking the ampules located in thecanisters 27A and 27B out ofcontact with the refrigerant.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view along line 3-3 of FIG. 2and illustrates an alternative wayof attaching a bottom 41A to a can39A. More specifically, the can 39A includes a pair of rolled ridges 40and 42 that project inwardly near. the lower end of the can. The rolledridges are separated by a distance generally equal to the thickness ofthe bottom 41A. .The bottom 41A fits between the rolled ridges and isfixedly held therebetween (it may be pressed into position therebetween,for example). In this manner the necessity to form a bottom plate witha'lip and weld it into place is eliminated. FIG. 3 also illustrates afurther lip 44 that extends inwardly above the clover-leaf shaped plate47. The further lip 44 prevents the cloverleaf shaped plate from risingabove a predetermined height during submersion of the cannisterassembly. Thus the weight of the ampules does not have to be entirelyrelied upon to perform this function.

The upper canister 27A is attached to the support plate 26 by aninverted loop 53 formed in the upper portion of the support plate 26 anda support lip '55 formed in the support plate 26 where the support platemeets the lower edge of the upper canister 27A. More specifically, thecurvature of support plate 26 is the same as the 'extemal curvature ofthe canisters. The upper portion of the support member 26 is bent towardthe inside of the curvature to form the inverted loop 53 (FIG. 2). Inaddition, the support lip 55 is formed by creating a Z-shaped cutout ordeformity in the support plate 26. Preferably, the length of theinverted loop 53 is approximately twice the length of the support lip55. Moreover, the preferably length of the support lip 55 is such thatthe lower edge of the canister 27A at the lip 43 of the bottom 41 fitstherein. With this arrangement, the upper canister 27A is attached tothe support plate 26 by first moving the canister 27A upwardly inside ofthe inverted loop 53 and then dropping the canister 27A down until it issupported by the support lip 55. The upper canister is removed byreversing this procedure, i.e., the upper canister is raised todisengage its bottom from the support lip 55 and then lowered until itdrops from beneath the inverted loop 53.

The lower canister 27B is fixedly attached to the support plate 26 inthe manner illustrated in FIG. 2A. More specifically, the lower canister278 has a plurality of slits 57 formed in its can 39 generally near theupper end thereof. The slits 57 align with tabs 59 formed in the supportplate 26. The tabs 59 pass through the slits 57 and are either bentupwardly (59A) or downwardly (5912) as desired, to securely attach thelower canister 273 to the support plate 26 in an irremovable manner.Alternatively, if desired, slits can be formed in both the lowercanister 27B and the adjacent lower region of the support plate 26.Metal tabs are inserted through aligned slits in these items and bent toprovide the desired secure attachment.

In order to provide ease of access, preferably, the depth of thecanisters 27A and 27B is slightly less than the length of French Strawsemen ampules 61 to be held therein. This is preferred so that the semenampules can be easily removed from the canisters without requiring theuse of a probe or other such means. In other words, for French Strawampules which are normally 5 to 6 inches long, the canisters areslightly less than 5 inches deep. It will be appreciated that this isconsiderably shorter than prior art canisters which are normally about12 inches deep. 7

In operation, the vacuum insulated storage container 11 is filled withthe refrigerant 14 and the upper and lower canisters 27A and 27B arefilled with suitable semen containing ampules 61, such as French Straws,for example. The upper and lower canisters 27A and 27B are loweredthrough the access aperture 21 in the vacuum insulated storage container1]. As the canisters are lowered into the refrigerant 14, refrigerantflows through the apertures 45 in the bottoms 41 of the canisters 27Aand 273 against the clover-leaf plates 47. This refrigerant flowslightly raises the clover-leaf plates 47 against the weight of theampules 61 thereby allowing the refrigerant to flow past the raisedridge 49, and the identations 51 into the canisters 27A and 27B.

When the canister assembly 13 has been entirely lowered into the vacuuminsulated storage container 11, its hook shaped upper end 31 is hungover the neck portion of the container. The containers neck is thensuitably plugged so that it is ready for transportation.

When it is desired to remove one or more semen ampules 61 from thecanister assembly 13, the canister assembly 13 is raised until the uppercanister projects beyond the upper edge of the access aperture 21. Then,selected ampules are removed. Thereafter, the canister assembly islowered back into the refrigerant 14. This action continues until theupper canister 27A is emptied. After the upper canister 27A has beenemptied, it

is removed in the manner previously indicated and the ampules in thelower canister 27B are selectively removed. As previously stated, duringremoval, refrigerant remains in the canisters 27A and 27B so that theampules are kept refrigerated during removal.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing description of preferredembodiments of the invention that the invention provides a canisterassembly suitable for storing semen ampules, particularly semen ampulesof the French Straw variety. The canisters forming a part of thecanister assembly not only have the capacity of prior art canisterassemblies to store semen ampules, they also provide for the easyremoval of the ampules without allowing the ampules to warm up duringremoval.

While the invention has been particularly described with respect to thestorage of semen ampules, it will be appreciated that it can be utilizedto store other types of samples in a vacuum insulated storage container.Hence, the invention can be utilized in areas other than thatparticularly described herein.

It will also be appreciated that while the invention has beenparticularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodimentsthereof various changes can be made therein without departing from itsspirit and scope. For example, it may be desirable in some environmentsto support more than two canister assemblies on a single handle. Hence,the invention can be practiced otherwise than as specifically describedherein.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A canister assembly suitable for storing ampules in a vacuuminsulated storage container that houses a liquid refrigerant, saidcanister assembly comprising:

a rigid elongated handle having an upper portion suitable for supportingsaid handle in said vacuum insulated storage container and a lowerportion suitable for supporting at least one canister; and,

at least one canister, said canister being attached to the lower portionof said rigid elongated handle, said canister including a one-way valveassembly that allows said liquid refrigerant to enter into said at leastone canister but prevents said liquid refrigerant from flowing out ofsaid at least one canister.

2. A canister assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein said upper portionof said rigid elongated handle is separated from said lower portion by alow thermal conductive section.

3. A canister assembly as claimed in claim 2 including a secondcanister, said second canister also including a one-way valve assemblythat allowssaid liquid refrigerant to flow into said second canister butprevents said liquid refrigerant from flowing out of said secondcanister, said second canister being attached to the lower portion ofsaid rigid elongated handle in vertical alignment with said at least onecanister above said at least one canister, said at least one canisterbeing fixedly attached to the lower portion of said rigid elongatedhandle and said second canister being removably attached to the lowerportion of said rigid elongated handle.

4. A canister assembly aszlaimed in claim 3 wherein said canisters areopen topped and include bottoms, said valve assemblies comprisingcentrally aligned apertures formed in the bottoms of said canisterssurrounded by raised ridges and raisable plates lying atop said raisedridges, said raisable plates having identations formed about their outerperipheries.

5. A canister assembly as claimed in claim 4 wherein said upper portionof said rigid elongated handle is separated from said lower portion by alow thermal conductive section.

6. In combination with a vacuum insulated storage container having alarge volume interior for housing a liquid refrigerant and an accessopening formed in the top of said container, a canister assemblycomprising:

support means for supporting said canister means in said vacuuminsulated storage container, said canister means being attached to saidsupport means so that said canister means are at least partiallysubmerged in said liquid refrigerant when said support means supportssaid canister means in said vacuum insulated storage container, saidsupport means and said canister means being suitable for withdrawalthrough the access opening of said vacuum insulated storage container.

7. The combination claimed in claim 6 wherein said support meanscomprises an elongated handle having an upper portion that includes ahook-shapedend, said hook-shaped end adapted to support said elongatedhandle in said vacuum insulated storage container; and, wherein saidcanister means includes at least one canister, said canister having agenerally cylindrical body with an open top, said one-way valve beingformed in the bottom of said canister.

1. A canister assembly suitable for storing ampules in a vacuuminsulated storage container that houses a liquid refrigerant, saidcanister assembly comprising: a rigid elongated handle having an upperportion suitable for supporting said handle in said vacuum insulatedstorage contaiNer and a lower portion suitable for supporting at leastone canister; and, at least one canister, said canister being attachedto the lower portion of said rigid elongated handle, said canisterincluding a one-way valve assembly that allows said liquid refrigerantto enter into said at least one canister but prevents said liquidrefrigerant from flowing out of said at least one canister.
 2. Acanister assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein said upper portion ofsaid rigid elongated handle is separated from said lower portion by alow thermal conductive section.
 3. A canister assembly as claimed inclaim 2 including a second canister, said second canister also includinga one-way valve assembly that allows said liquid refrigerant to flowinto said second canister but prevents said liquid refrigerant fromflowing out of said second canister, said second canister being attachedto the lower portion of said rigid elongated handle in verticalalignment with said at least one canister above said at least onecanister, said at least one canister being fixedly attached to the lowerportion of said rigid elongated handle and said second canister beingremovably attached to the lower portion of said rigid elongated handle.4. A canister assembly as claimed in claim 3 wherein said canisters areopen topped and include bottoms, said valve assemblies comprisingcentrally aligned apertures formed in the bottoms of said canisterssurrounded by raised ridges and raisable plates lying atop said raisedridges, said raisable plates having identations formed about their outerperipheries.
 5. A canister assembly as claimed in claim 4 wherein saidupper portion of said rigid elongated handle is separated from saidlower portion by a low thermal conductive section.
 6. In combinationwith a vacuum insulated storage container having a large volume interiorfor housing a liquid refrigerant and an access opening formed in the topof said container, a canister assembly comprising: canister means forhousing sample containing ampules, said canister means including aone-way valve formed so as to allow said liquid refrigerant to enterinto said canister means while preventing said liquid refrigerant fromleaving said canister means after entry into said canister means; and,support means for supporting said canister means in said vacuuminsulated storage container, said canister means being attached to saidsupport means so that said canister means are at least partiallysubmerged in said liquid refrigerant when said support means supportssaid canister means in said vacuum insulated storage container, saidsupport means and said canister means being suitable for withdrawalthrough the access opening of said vacuum insulated storage container.7. The combination claimed in claim 6 wherein said support meanscomprises an elongated handle having an upper portion that includes ahook-shaped end, said hook-shaped end adapted to support said elongatedhandle in said vacuum insulated storage container; and, wherein saidcanister means includes at least one canister, said canister having agenerally cylindrical body with an open top, said one-way valve beingformed in the bottom of said canister.